1. Field of the Invention
Half heald of a leno selvedge with lifting healds, whereas the half heald has two arms that may be joined together on their upper end so as to form a head and that are provided on their lower end with a foot, whereas the foot is magnetically co-operating with the at least one magnet of the lifting heald.
2. Description of the Prior Art
DE-GM 89 03 775 discloses a half heald made of metal, the foot of which being designed so as to have a full surface in order to be better controllable by the magnet of the lifting heald.
A leno selvedge device of the type mentioned above is sufficiently known out of DE-PS 38 18 680. The device for making a leno selvedge is hereby comprising two lifting healds arranged on two heald frames of a mechanical loom, said heald frames being moved alternately. The device for making a leno selvedge additionally comprises a half heald that is alternately taken along by the lifting healds according to the movement of the heald frames. The half heald has two arms that are joining on their upper end, thus creating a head with an eye for guiding the stationary thread. Such a half heald is made of a metallic material. Each lifting heald is provided on its lower end with at least one magnet which is causing the corresponding lifting heald to take along the half heald in a controlled way so that the force of the magnet guarantees that the half heald is held by the lifting heald while it is taken along by said lifting heald. This principle is, as already mentioned, sufficiently known out of DE-PS 38 18 680. The half heald is taken along by the lifting heald and here particularly by a web arranged in the lifting heald and on which the half heald is resting with its head located on the upper end of it while it is taken along by the corresponding lifting heald.
The above lifting heald was found to soon cut in the area of said web. This is essentially due to the high number of strokes of up to 1200 wefts and more which causes the half heald to strike onto the web at a very high velocity and with the corresponding high energy. In order to avoid such a cutting-in, it has already been suggested to insert a stopper underneath the magnet in the lifting heald, said stopper serving as a buffer for the foot of the half heald's arm. The wear in the area of the web could thus considerably be reduced and the working life of the lifting heald could considerable be extended, but the working life of said lifting heald was still to short, even with this stopper, especially with regard to the increasing number of strokes in mechanical looms.